Japan’s Data and Voice SIM Providers Compared (Long-Term Options)

Investigating Japan SIM cards? If you balk at the enormous monthly fees and hidden charges of the big mobile players like NTT DoCoMo, Softbank and AU, you might have contemplated going the “SIM-free” route—ditching your locked cellphone for an unlocked handset paired with a cheap MVNO SIM from one of the plethora of vendors that have seemingly popped up overnight.

Looking for the best combination of easy and cheap? Sakura Mobile offers full multilingual support and flexible payment. They have voice+data plans from ¥2,980 + consumption tax/month, which include free talk time. Check their plans here.

The focus of this post is on longer-term SIM use in Japan. For an excellent intro to the whole mobile data scene, with an emphasis on Japan SIM cards for short-term stays, see our sister article Prepaid and Cheap Data Sim Card Options in Japan.

Introduction to MVNOs

MVNO stands for “Mobile Virtual Network Operator”, which means an operator that piggybacks on the network of one of the major players. For most, this means using NTT DoCoMo’s high-speed LTE network. In general, the offerings are so much cheaper than the cabal of three (sorry, but Y!Mobile is just SoftBank in disguise, with even worse service), that for saving money you should just change right now. This minute.

The problem is that there are so many different offerings that it can be hard to choose. Mobal, BIC SIM, Biglobe, DMM Mobile, IIJMIO, Mineo, Nifmo, Rakuten Mobile, Nuro Mobile, U-Mobile and UQMobile are just some of the companies that we know of—there are possibly quite a few more.

The two basic SIM types

Although there are different SIM sizes (make sure you know if your phone takes a nano, micro or standard SIM before ordering anything), SIM plans are divided into two different categories—data only, or data + voice. Just because you get data only, it doesn’t mean you can’t text using SMS—most providers have an option for this (it just costs a bit extra). However, without the voice option, you won’t be able to make or receive regular phone calls.

To save you the time of trawling through all the sites and all the fine print, we have prepared definitive comparison charts for data-only SIMs and data + voice. We even added sales tax, since every company conveniently leaves it out because well, it’s just so difficult to add 8% to everything right? Poor sneaky things.

Data + voice SIMs

Data + voice SIMs differ to data-only SIMs in that they typically have a minimum contract period and cancellation fees. Just like the data SIMs, they have a starting fee of approximately ¥3,240(Sakura Mobile’s set-up is a little different). They all charge somewhere in the region of 29-47 yen/minute for voice calls and 3-30 yen for sending domestic SMS texts. Receiving texts (both domestic and international) is free.

Notes on above:

Mobal – Unlimited data. Domestic SMSes at ¥12 each. Free unlimited calls to ALL Mobal and SoftBank phones. No resident card or visa requirements. Student and teacher(!) discounts available.Sakura Mobile – Includes 30 to 60 minutes of free local/international calls (depending on the plan). Although there are no cancellation fees, there is an all-in-one ¥15,000 “activation” fee, discounted to ¥5,400 for spring/summer. Flexible payment options. Student discounts.Nuro Mobile – Formerly So-net (run by Sony). Nighttime plan also available.Biglobe SIM – Also offer 20 and 30GB plans.DMM Mobile – Also offer plans of other sizes, and sharing is a possibility. Discounts until July 5, 2018.Mineo – Choice of DoCoMo or AU SIM. 1GB plan is available. Might not be able to access the website from overseas.U-mobile – Unlimited LTE plans are also available. SIM must be returned upon cancellation of the contract.UQ mobile – Unlimited data plan restricted to 500Kbs speed.Rakuten Mobile – 20 and 30GB data plans, as well as unlimited use plans, are also available.

With some of these plans, it is possible to reduce call rates by using data-based apps. Although not explicitly stated above, many also allow data sharing with partners and family members. Note that other plans may be available in addition to those listed above. Data services may continue, though throttled, once the monthly limit has been reached.

Photo by Carey Finn

Data-only SIMs

As above, there are certain things that all plans share. For example, they all have a “starting fee” (they have different names for this) of roughly ¥3,240. Unlike data + voice SIMs, data-only SIMs often have no set contract period or cancellation fees. Also note that for the additional feature of SMS, you will pay a monthly fee (upwards of 130 yen a month), plus 3-30 yen per domestic message sent. Receiving SMS messages is free.

In terms of data volume, we decided to skip the 1GB level. While you might be able to get it to work, for a whole month we find it’s a tough limit. If you are after a 1GB plan, the cheapest we found was DMM mobile at ¥519, followed by U-mobile at ¥853 and Mineo at ¥864.

Notes on above:

Sakura Mobile – Activation fee ¥5,400. Unused data accrued to following month. Flexible payment options available.DMM mobile – It may be possible to carry over unused data. Ask on sign-up.Mineo – Choice of DoCoMo or AU SIM. Website may not be accessible from overseas.U-mobile – Reasonable, unlimited LTE plans are also available.UQMobile – ¥2,139 plan restricted to 500Kbs speed (slow).Rakuten Mobile – Unused data can be added to the following month. 20 and 30GB data plans are also available. Adding the SMS option allows IP calls using an 050 number.

With some of these providers, it is possible to split one data plan among multiple SIM cards—this is great for families/couples. Ask when applying. Note that other plans may be available in addition to those listed above.

Payment options

One of the most frequently-asked questions is how to pay for a voice + data or data-only SIM contract in Japan. All of the providers accept Japanese credit cards, but unfortunately, some do not accept international credit cards. Both Mobal and Sakura Mobile are okay with international cards, with Sakura Mobile in particular offering flexible payment options such as paying by cash or credit card at convenience stores. For all the others, just ask at sign-up.

Japan SIM cards: In summary

As you can see from the above, there is lots of fine print with each of these Japanese SIM card plans. Things to look out for are daily maximum usage limits, connectivity speeds, payment methods (as noted, all accept Japanese credit card, some also accept direct debit from Japanese bank accounts) and age restrictions (some are restricted to 20 or over, while others are fine as long as you have a credit card).

If you’re looking for a good cheap handset, Kakaku.com is useful for a price comparison. If you’re trying to get a handset that’s not available in Japan, a good place to look is Expansys.

Are you on a contact with Docomo? Or is it like these other SIM card companies? Cause, you know you’ll lose out on data speeds over preferred contracted customers with Docomo.

For me it matters quite a bit cause I have a tablet. So Rakuten Mobile SIM has a few plans for Data, like 5GB a month and throttle after 1GB(within 3 days), 10GB a month and throttle after 1.7GB(within 3 days). HOWEVER, the data speeds I’m getting with this isn’t so hot… So I suspect there’s further throttling going on somewhere, as all these SIM companies put in disclaimers saying they don’t guarantee the fastest speeds, even if device has the ability.

Will be going with a new ‘unlocked’ handset next year and will try BIC SIM and do a side by side comparison with my Tablet (on Rakuten Mobile SIM) and my contracted Docomo Phone.

The contract is with OCN and they lease capacity from Docomo. Their pricing plans are multi-tiered depending on your usage (can switch tiers month to month). If you go over your daily allotment, the speed is throttled down to 200kbps. Unused bandwidth rolls over from day to day. Some of these SIM providers have too many users for their leased bandwidth and access is sluggish. I did a lot of research before switching and Japanese users rated OCN and IIJmio as the best services. So far OCN has been good and I’m happy with the 4G speeds.http://service.ocn.ne.jp/english/mobile/one/

Hard to say – it all seems to depend on the MVNO. The U-Mobile SIM I got has been a little disappointing – but I may have made a mistake with the compatibility of the handset I bought. Using the Ookla Speedtest app, I get 1.2Mbps download and 12.35Mbps upload. Weird how the upload speed is so much faster which lends me to believe it might be a handset issue.

Thanks for the insight, as long as I can browse occasional videos that’s fine with me. I recently purchased a Nexus 6P directly from Google so I will be using that with a new plan with an MVNO, most likely OCN and IIJmio according to the feedback from everyone.
Also Spotify does work via a VPN. Actually I’ve noticed the ads that play have now been replaced from US to Japanese. Maybe indication Spotify plan to enter the market soon.

This will all depend on a few things. Firstly, if you’re going with an MVNO, you won’t get priority for network use(regarding speed, etc), as if you were actually signed up and a Docomo customer(for example). SO during peak times, your speed could become quite slow.
Also, if your handset isn’t CAT6 and doesn’t support enough bands on the network, then you wouldn’t be able to benefit from any possible Carrier Aggregation. (this is a tech that allows phones, that are capable, to use multiple bands at the same time to achieve faster speeds). I haven’t found anything CLEAR about if being on an MVNO would prevent using this tech or not. It’d be interesting to see, because some of these MVNO’s are advertising up to 225Mbps potential speeds, but that’s only possible with Carrier Aggregation, and in certain areas of the metropolis (like Tokyo).
Considering you’re not going to get priority on network speed in anycase, I wonder how they can make this claim. Not that I’ve ever seen any tests with my friends on CAT 6 phones getting anywhere near such speeds. At most about 70Mbps down.

Is Spotify in Japan yet? Last I heard they’re still working on it.
If not, you’ll likely get blocked from streaming that service (From the U.S. or something. Spotify may prevent access due to your physical location in a market that doesn’t yet support it). Though you may be able to circumvent that with an unblocking service.

I’ve never used DMM’s credit card processing before (after researching this I bought a U-Mobile SIM) but most payment gateways in Japan are getting better at dealing with international cards. You probably just need to try it. Also, you should be aware that you need some form of Japanese ID. For most non-Japanese this would be either a Resident’s Card or a Driving License.

A question about the above, which I reckon is on the important side; while you cannot place/receive calls using the ‘normal phone functions’ with a data-only SIM, you would still be able to make use of a service like Skype to phone to cellphones or even receive calls (if you can get a number allocated).

Do any of the service providers mentioned have restrictions regarding VOIP-usage on their data-only SIM plans? In South Africa, as example, if you use your data for VOIP purposes on at least one of our carriers they will promptly terminate your contract/SIM and charge you retroactively at a grossly-inflated rate for any data they determine you used for the purpose.

Theo, That’s a good question. I know that at least one of the B-Mobile tourist SIMs blocks VOIP, but I’m not aware that any of the above providers do. I tried to examine the fine print as much as I could for each of the plans but didn’t see anything that mentioned this. There’s all sorts of extra fine print that pops up when you actually agree to the service though, so i guess you need to check that.
I found an article in Japanese in which the writer is recommending a Data SIM with VOIP, it’s not clear if they’ve actually tested it though so I’d take it with a grain of salt. http://simchange.jp/ip-phone-mvno/

If you’re in to using Data more than Voice(as apps like Skype, LINE, Viber), and especially if you’re into using with your tablet for video, like Youtube, etc. You’ll want to be aware of this:
Most of these SIM companies will throttle your data speeds down to about 200kbps after you go over 366MB data use within 3 days.
If your device doesn’t support all the bands (Shuhasu) of the underlying network (Like Docomo or Softbank), then you’ll won’t get very fast speeds. Make sure your device can support (I’d say) at least 2 of the bands)
Next is, since you’re not a primary customer of the network provider (i.e. you’re not a contracted customer with Docomo), you won’t get preferential data speeds. (during peak times etc, you’ll definitely notice a difference).
My contracted Docomo phone vs. my other device using one of these SIM providers on the same network has proven that to me.

If you’re just visiting Japan, most of the above won’t really matter.
However, make darn sure your device supports the bands that the network provider uses in Japan.
BIC SIM and RAKUTEN MOBILE use the Docomo network, for example.

Thanks for sharing your experience. A lot of them have daily usage limits and I’ve tried to shine a light on as much of the fine print as possible. AFAIK, they all use the Docomo network while Mineo is the only one to also give an AU SIM option.

I can’t attest to the above site/company and have no experience with these devices, so I’d seek further information and opinion.
However, with one of these Japan Hotspot WIFI things, it SHOULD be compatible with all the bands to get the best data speeds possible, and just connect your device to it via WIFI and you should be set.

First of all, great blog! As someone who recently moved to Tokyo and are living on a limited budget, awesome! Second, do you happen to have any recommendations for sims on Softbanks network? My phone works best on their network and as far as i can tell all of the ones listed are on Docomo with some exceptions.

The only service that I know of that runs on or with SoftBank is Y!Mobile. I hate that company with a passion though so I could never recommend them! I was a few days late with cancelling my 2 year contract so the contract was automatically renewed – so I had to pay a 12,000yen penalty to get out of it. Technically my fault for not closely observing the fine print but totally anti-consumer (as are most mobile providers).

Yeah, Docomo will do the same as Softbank. Docomo will automatically renew your 2 year contract for another 2 years if you don’t do anything about it. Then they’ll stick you with about 1man yen fee to cancel out of it, and then hit you another 2000 to MNP your number over.
U.S. carriers, I think, will convert you to a monthly no annual contract deal once your initial contract is satisfied.
I told the Docomo staff that, they’re not making it any more appealing for me to ever come back to them in the future. Not that they care, but I wouldn’t shed a tear if they go belly up or get outpaced by a more innovative google-type provider. Would serve these carriers right for shafting us.

I went for a router + yamada (powered by umobile) sim from Labi in Shinjuku. The router cost 19000 yen and included sim for free, rather than normal 3000 yen setup fee. I set sim to unlimited package.

Speeds have been disappointing. Often 0.1mbps and at best maybe 1 mbps.

I might consider switching to UQMobile’s unlimited package. It is only 0.5mbps. But if that is realiable then I might actually be better off. 0.1 is painfully slow.

I think this post should make a strong point about disappointing speeds of these Sims. From further research lots of these Sims suffer similar problems. Might not be great cheapo options if they don’t work well.

Almost all of them are “LTE best effort” which means the big carriers – Docomo/AU/SoftBank etc. give priority for their own customers on their own networks. The GTN Mobile premium plan offers guaranteed high data speeds but it’s a bit more expensive than the others.

I am currently on an LTE plan with Rakuten Mobile which utilizes the Docomo network. Extremely slow and spotty. I live in Tokyo. I could be an outlier case, but I wouldn’t recommend it. perhaps a victim of the “LTE best effort”. I am nearing end of my contract and am looking for something better.

Thanks for the feedback. What are the issues you’re having with Rakuten Mobile? I’m on U-Mobile and I find that the speed is OK but the latency is spotty. So Netflix streams really well but a lot of stuff takes a while to load. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what is a network issue and what is an app issue. The new GTN plan mentioned in the article piggybacks on the Y!Mobile/Softbank network so they tell us it has regular carrier speeds rather than MVNO speeds. (Disclosure: They’re currently advertising with us)

I’m having both latency and speed issues. Interestingly prior to Rakuten I was using a data only prepaid LTE sim from iijmio. That was lightning fast and low latency. It’s expensive though since it’s prepaid. I’d I knew the postpaid plan above from iijmio had same performance as prepaid I would do it. Good to know about GTN – kinda pricy though. 7 month contract is encouraging though.

Your post has helped me tremendously as I have transitioned to Japan. All should be advised that you need residency status in order to get the voice SIM option (data and data+SMS option does not require residency). Also, the BIGLOBE pricing has gone up and is slightly higher than what you have posted, but overall you have provided a great resource!

Great article and very helpful! Just a heads-up, I just signed up with big globe and they do accept bank transfers as means of payment, as long as you sign for the data only sim. You’ll need a credit card for the voice plan. Hope this helps someone as I had to comb tru the net till I found this info.

Tested BIC SIM, which are OCN and IIJ MIO, at BIC Camera. Both were damn slow. The SIM cards came from Docomo. One via OCN and the other IIJ. Both were tested using Speedtest app by Ookla, and compared against a WiMax portable accesspoint. The WiMax tested on average at 5Mps up and down, using various servers in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. OCN and IIJ SIMs, under the BIC SIM label, tested at 500Kps. It was terrible.

Also Rakuten appears to have some severe restrictions. They seem to work only with LTE and no 3G. They also appear to up sale people, by suggesting you buy a new phone for just a data SIM or will only let you sign up if your phone was bought in Japan. Beware of the sales people in the Rakuten Cafe. If you have a friend with a Japanese phone, you will need to use that to sign up with Rakuten.

Another thing about Rakuten, is they have data download limits. If you exceed 1.7GB in 3 days, on the 10GB plan, they will punish you for 1 day with a 200Kps restriction.

Hi guys! You forgot “Min. Contract” column on data-only plans (wanted to see TONE but it looks like they only have only one plan for voice+data and the 24 months min contract doesn’t really appeal me)
edit: and it looks like they force you to buy a phone from them

I got a SIMfree iPad mini at Apple Store.
Yodobashi put in a NTT 4G SIM, 3GB of data per month. It is 1,000 yen per month.
As long as you don’t stream video, it should be enough. I don’t use even a third of the data per month. I use Skype to make calls and have a Skype-In number to receive calls.
Netflix allows downloading, so download over wifi at home, and you won’t need so much cellular data.